Prehistoric Hemispherical Face-Off

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Robert Krulwich/NPR

Wondrous prehistory, thanks to Robert Krulwich:

This is the story of two continents doing battle, North America versus South America. It is also a biological mystery.

For a very long time, North America and South America were separate land masses. The Pacific Ocean slipped between them, flowing into the Caribbean. The Isthmus of Panama was there, but it was underwater. The two continents didn’t touch.

As a result animals on both continents, especially mammals, evolved independently. They didn’t, couldn’t, interbreed. And yet, both North and South America had mountains, plains, long lazy rivers, deltas and supported similar forms of mammalian life. In fact, when biologists look back at the fossils, they found almost mirror like populations. Continue reading →

Innovation, Collaboration & Illustration

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Thanks to the man who, without fail, coaxes a smile with another New York Times blogpost keeper:

After spending the first 15 years of my life drawing and painting analog, I first dabbled in computer-generated graphics in the mid-1980s on a Sinclair ZX81, followed by an Amstrad CPC664. “Drawing” with these machines meant entering strings of binary code to manipulate ASCII codes into something vaguely resembling images. Continue reading →

Beauty Of Munnar – Gulmohar Trees

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Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Located at 5000 ft above sea level, Munnar hill stations were the summer resorts of the British administration in South India. Although famous for tea plantations flowering trees and plants thrive in Munnar and the surrounding region. Continue reading →

Ecological Modernism Elucidated

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Thanks  to Yale Environment 360 for this big mental poke:

New Green Vision: Technology As Our Planet’s Last Best Hope.

The concept of ecological modernism, which sees technology as the key to solving big environmental problems, is gaining adherents and getting a lot of buzz these days. While mainstream conservationists may be put off by some of the new movement’s tenets, they cannot afford to ignore the issues it is raising.

by Fred Pearce

There is a new environmental agenda out there. One that is inimical to many traditional conservationists, but which is picking up kudos and converts. It calls itself environmental modernism — which for many is an oxymoron. Continue reading →

Bull Festival Karnataka

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Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

The Bull Worshiping Festival is celebrated by Indian farmers, mainly in the State of Karnataka. On this day farmers bathe their bulls, decorate them with ornaments and shawls, paint their horns, and place garlands of flowers around their necks. Continue reading →

Kettuvallom – Houseboats

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Photo credits:Ramesh Kidangoor

Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

The publishers of the most recent edition of the Lonely Planet India place Kerala’s backwaters as second only to the Taj Mahal in their “must do” list of the country. The houseboat experience is partially the reason why. Traditional Kettuvallom are thatch-covered barges built to carry rice and other commodities through the waterways that once formed the lifeline of Kerala’s transportation systems. Continue reading →

Spirit + Energy + Water + Patience + Talent = National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest Winner

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Photo and caption by Wagner Araujo

Thanks to the National Geographic Society’s many innovations, and in particular for the small ones like this photo contest:

I was in Manaus, Amazonas, during the Brazilian Aquathlon (swimming and running) championship. I photographed it from the water and my lens got completely wet, but there was so much energy in these boys that I just didn’t worry about that. —Wagner Araujo Continue reading →

Protecting The Largest Forests

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Photo courtesy Valerie Courtois, Canadian Boreal Initiative. Migratory tundra caribou in the boreal region of Quebec migrate hundreds of miles and require large tracts of protected wilderness.

Photo courtesy Valerie Courtois, Canadian Boreal Initiative. Migratory tundra caribou in the boreal region of Quebec migrate hundreds of miles and require large tracts of protected wilderness.

Thanks to Krishna Ramanujan for this story in the Cornell Chronicle about the new mega-scale of conservation planning:

At least half of Canada’s 1.4 billion acre boreal forest, the largest remaining intact wilderness on Earth, must be protected to maintain the area’s current wildlife and ecological systems, according to a report by an international panel of 23 experts. Continue reading →

Kovalam – Kerala

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Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Kovalam beach is covered with coconut palms, and framed by the headlands that rise steeply above the shore. The crescent shaped beaches of Kovalam are an international tourist attraction. With  golden sands, miles of shimmering sea, and picturesque beaches it is no wonder that this beautiful place is one of Kerala’s most popular destinations. Continue reading →

Those Fabulous Buffett Boys

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It sure sounds like a great way to pass time, giving away billions of dollars. The fact that they seem to think deeply about the implications of their wealth, as well as their methods of getting and giving, makes them even more noteworthy. Thanks to tax-payer, and listener-supported National Public Radio in the USA for bringing the other brother/son to our attention with this story:

Get Howard Buffett into the cab of a big ole’ farm tractor and he’s like a kid — albeit a 58-year-old, gray-haired one. He’s especially excited when it comes to the tractor’s elaborate GPS system, which he describes as “very cool.”

“I’m driving hands-free,” says Buffett, the son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Continue reading →

Luke Shepard, Come To Kerala!

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We send these invitations, modern messages in modern bottles, with discriminating intent, if random expectations. Luke reminds us of how much we miss the Raxa Collective Design Team, a 2012 phenomenon. We cannot see much about Luke except that he “does things.”  The photography and film-making among those things, we like from what we see here.  The welcome mat is out…

Mahashivratri Festival – Attappadi

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Photo credits: Ranjith

Photo credits: Ranjith

Attappadi is situated in the northeast part of Palakkad district, and is a stunning forest that is mainly inhabited by local tribes. The Malleshwarn peak of Attappadi is worshiped as a huge Shivalinga, the symbolic connection between male and female forces, by these tribes. They celebrate the festival of Shivratri with fanfare on the hill, by illuminating the top of this peak. Continue reading →

The New Social Work, A Bangalore Innovation

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Courtesy of Flavy Shankar. Deena Pinto, extreme left, with her friends during a Sunday brunch meeting in Bangalore, Karnataka.

Thanks to India Ink for this coverage of Bangalore’s social scene intersecting with its entrepreneurial innovation:

Deena Pinto, in her 30s and single, is much sought after in some social circles in Bangalore. Continue reading →